


Cabal

by cheshirecat101



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Alternate Universe - Twins, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Marriage, Minor Original Character(s), Obsessive Hannibal, Police Officer Will Graham, Police Uniforms, Possessive Hannibal, Secret Identity, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 22:50:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4037563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheshirecat101/pseuds/cheshirecat101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Hannibal didn’t notice that something was off for far longer than it should have taken, a little impressed by how long the charade had managed to go on for.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Hannibal moves into the apartment across from Will and finds an unexpected surprise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cabal

**Author's Note:**

> Haha, the twin AU I've been meaning to do for a few weeks! Enjoy!

Hannibal didn’t notice that something was off for far longer than it should have taken, a little impressed by how long the charade had managed to go on for. When he first moved into the building, he’d briefly met the neighbor across the hall, Will. And by met he really meant that he’d tried to introduce himself and Will had given him a once over before disappearing into his apartment without a word. He was at first tempted to put him on his list to eat for his rudeness, but for one thing, he would be an automatic suspect in it, and for another, he didn’t want to eat him. Not that way.

There was something intriguing about the younger man, something that made Hannibal want to see if he could crack that hardened shell and see what sweets spilled out. He wasn’t sure where the interest came from—perhaps it was just because he wasn’t used to people rejecting him so abruptly, refusing to even talk to him, not letting him use his usual charm at all. That, or it could simply be that he was attracted to Will, interested in the man who lived across the hall and refused to ever look him in the eye.

But it was hard to get even remotely close to the other man. He didn’t even wave when they passed in the hallway, eyes briefly darting over to Hannibal before darting away again, hardly ever making eye contact, a curious habit. He seemed content to avoid Hannibal as much as he could, though he really wasn’t sure why that was. Perhaps he was just that secretive, that private, a recluse who was happier by himself. Maybe he was put off by Hannibal somehow, sensing something about him or simply disliking the way that he carried himself. That was certainly a possibility, though Hannibal had to hope that that wasn’t the case because he a) didn’t want to be found out, and b) couldn’t very well change his entire personality to suit one man, make him like him. Hannibal didn’t do well with changing for others.

So he started slow. Slipping a few letters into Will’s mailbox, making it so that Will would have to interact with him, at least once. That was, if he didn’t decide to just slip them back into Hannibal’s mailbox and not interact with him at all, which was likely for him. So Hannibal was pleasantly surprised when he answered a knock on his door and found Will on the other side, shifting uncomfortably and looking at Hannibal’s tie rather than into his eyes.

“These are yours,” he said, holding them out to Hannibal, who accepted them from him, hand barely brushing against Will’s fingers. Will instantly pulled back from the movement, and Hannibal resisted the urge to frown, though his lips twitched, just slightly. Will wouldn’t have caught the movement, though, considering his eyes were on Hannibal’s collar, then the lapels of his suit, then his pocket square. Never his eyes, though, and Hannibal had to resist the urge to reach out and tip his head up to look at him. He doubted that would force that cerulean gaze on him, though it depended on how Will responded to orders.

That was an interesting question. How Will would respond to a touch of dominance, to someone trying to force him to behave. Would he accept it, and fall into a subservient role, or would he buck like a wild horse, try to throw whoever it was off of his back? He would bet on the latter, knowing that while he hadn’t seen a fire in Will’s eyes, it still existed. After all, Will was a police officer, though he had to wonder how he did that when he had trouble looking people in the eye. But he’d seen him leave in the uniform, so unless he was a stripper—unlikely—he was a police officer, and Hannibal could imagine him as a dominant personality, as someone who gave orders and handcuffed evildoers and generally commanded a room. Though perhaps he liked taking orders more than giving them.

“Thank you for returning them to me, I’m grateful,” Hannibal said, giving Will a smile that Will didn’t bother to return. “I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met before.”

“Will Graham. I live across the hall,” Will said, eyes briefly darting to Hannibal’s before darting away again. Hannibal had to wonder if eye contact would increase as they grew comfortable with each other, and hoped it would. After all, he intended to become very comfortable with Will Graham, and vice versa.

“I see. I’m Hannibal Lecter. I moved in the other week?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Will said, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. He was silent for a moment, then turned to go with a mumbled, “I’ll see you.”

“Ah, wait a moment,” Hannibal said, and Will reluctantly turned around again. “I was hoping that maybe I could have you for dinner sometime. I’m afraid since moving, I don’t have anyone to cook for, and I might as well to thank you for bringing my mail over.”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to thank me for it. Goodbye, Mr. Lecter.”

“Doctor,” Hannibal corrected on instinct, and Will paused where he’d been turning to leave.

“Dr. Lecter. Have a nice evening,” he said, and went back across the hall, Hannibal’s eyes on him the whole way.

Well, it was an introduction. Not a great one, but an introduction nonetheless, and it had whet an appetite that Hannibal hadn’t even known he’d had. Maybe it was just that it’d been so long since he was in any kind of a relationship, or maybe it was just how cute Will looked, like a lost puppy that showed up at his door. He wasn’t sure what drew him to the other man, but each rebuff drew him in more, made his interest in Will grow. Of course, he didn’t realize quite what he was signing on for when he started his pursuit. He wasn’t prepared for both of them.

The next time he saw Will, he should have known. It should have been obvious, but he wasn’t thinking too hard about it, and even if he had been, the thought would have been so outlandish that he would have immediately dismissed it. It wasn’t something normal, not something that people often thought of, and he just saw it as a sign that perhaps the other occasions when he’d met Will hadn’t truly been indicative of his personality. Maybe he’d simply gotten the whole thing wrong.

Because the next time he talked to Will, he was different, very different. For one thing, he wasn’t in his uniform but was heading out at the same time that he usually had his shift, though that could simply be attributed to a different schedule than normal. And he was dressed like he usually was when he was off, flannel and sweaters and a jacket, a combination that made Hannibal desperate to put him in a real, well-fitted suit. Not the grandfather clothes that he had a tendency to wear. What was really wrong, though, was his attitude. When he saw Hannibal, he actually smiled at him, though that faded as he appeared to study him for a minute, then recognition dawned on his face.

“Hannibal, right?” he said, and Hannibal thought he could detect a hint of an accent, and not the kind that Will usually had, a slight southern twang that only showed occasionally. No, this had sounded more…English? Perhaps. Hard to identify because he only heard a hint of it before it was gone again, Will back to his normal voice. How strange. Perhaps he spent some time there? Could be. Could simply be a fluke.

“Did I really make such a fleeting impression?” Hannibal asked, amusement in his tone, and Will shook his head.

“No, he—” He stopped himself, a slow, almost sly smile coming over his lips. “Never mind. Dr. Lecter, right?”

“Hannibal, if you prefer,” Hannibal said, and Will gave a small wave.

“Nice to see you again,” he said, and Hannibal must have done a poor job of hiding his surprise because Will laughed. “Don’t look so shocked. Just make sure our mail doesn’t end up mixed up again, okay?”

And with another small wave and a smile, he was off again, heading out the door and in the opposite direction as Hannibal. Hannibal exited more slowly, a bit confused by the encounter, and confused was not a state that he was in often. After all, he was usually good at reading people, at understanding what they were like on the inside, but apparently he’d entirely misread Will. Or something, because that didn’t seem at all like the same person that he’d met before. Maybe he’d simply been in a bad mood the other times that they met? It was a possibility. But it just didn’t seem quite right.

The puzzle followed him throughout the next few days, and he decided to mix their mail together again, adding a few unimportant letters to Will’s mailbox, interested to see if he’d return them in person again or go for the indirect route. And which version of Will he’d see this time.

It turned out to be the first version, Will holding out the mail to him with a blank expression when Hannibal opened the door. “Hello, Will,” Hannibal said, not immediately accepting the mail from him, and Will made a soft noise that could have been an acknowledgment, could have been a noise of frustration, holding the mail out again.

“Next time it ends up in my box, I’m putting it directly in yours. I don’t have the time to constantly come to your apartment and give it to you,” he said curtly, and Hannibal smiled slightly, amused by the disgruntled version of Will that he seemed to see more often than the other version. Curious. He would have to do more research about this.

“I apologize for the inconvenience. Could I offer you a drink in apology?” he asked, giving Will a relaxed, nonthreatening smile. That Will seemed instantly suspicious of. Definitely not like the Will he’d seen the other day, how odd.

“Do you have whiskey?” Will asked after a minute, and Hannibal fought the triumphant smile that wanted to claim his lips, instead nodding, and Will seemed to consider it for a minute more before pushing past him into the apartment. It was the closest Hannibal had been to him yet, and he took the opportunity to gently inhale, take in a deep breath of Will’s scent. Oh, that aftershave was atrocious. If they grew closer and the occasion was appropriate for it, he would definitely take the opportunity to replace it with something more suitable. Something elegant and refined, that would suit Will and his natural scent, barely able to be scented underneath that hideous aftershave. Oh, that would definitely have to go.

Hannibal shut the door behind him, and Will glanced back, seeming to not be quite comfortable with being closed in. But he didn’t try to bolt, which was rewarding, and instead headed into the kitchen of Hannibal’s apartment, looking around the small space that made up the kitchen and living room. It was small, but elegant, tastefully decorated to suit Hannibal’s standards. Once he was more settled in his role as psychiatrist, rather than a surgeon, he would move to an actual house, rather than this temporary holding place. And perhaps Will would come with him.

Ah, but he was getting ahead of himself, and this preoccupation was getting out of hand, turning into obsession and Hannibal couldn’t afford to have that. He needed to retain his careful control, make sure that if this did evolve into something more, it was under his meticulous care and it didn’t get…messy. Though that was what Will was, wasn’t it? A mess of a man, curls in disarray, uniform never perfect, glasses on half the time and off the rest, manners a mess…but he was perfect that way. Hannibal didn’t like the other Will that he’d seen as much, the one that seemed to be much more put together. This one was better.

“Neat, or on the rocks?” Hannibal asked as he moved to the cabinet to pull out the whiskey he had, a drink that he didn’t personally indulge in very often, but had all the same for his guests.

“Neat,” Will answered, returning from where he’d wandered into the living room to look around it, just cursory glances. Hannibal was pretty sure that his interest in Hannibal’s living space didn’t run very deep, but he appreciated that he took an interest at all.

Hannibal poured out the whiskey into two glasses, not particularly enthused about partaking himself, but knowing that it would probably endear him more to Will, make him seem like they were more on the same level. Which was important to the development of their relationship. “I was surprised to see you weren’t working the other day,” he commented casually, wanting to gather more information about the Will that had smiled at him and called him by his first name before he caught himself.

Will seemed confused for a moment before his face cleared, and he nodded as he accepted his glass from Hannibal. “Right. I had a different shift that day,” he said almost dismissively, and took a sip of his whiskey, giving an appreciative hum.

“You seemed to be in quite the good mood.”

Either he was imagining things, or Will was taking another sip of his drink to avoid speaking, and he was pretty sure he knew which. “It was a weird day,” he answered eventually, but that didn’t seem quite right. But Hannibal didn’t have an explanation ready, something to confront Will with and catch him in a lie. So he would just have to continue as he was, nod along as if he believed that, and Will’s eyes briefly darted to his before moving away again as he took a nervous sip of his drink. At this rate, he was going to finish it in a few minutes. But it seemed that he could handle his liquor, and anyway, he lived right across the hall. Not hard to get to.

“So. Hopefully this will be the end of the mail fiasco,” Hannibal commented, a light smile on his lips, and Will nodded, looking down at his glass. He was still in his uniform from the day, looking quite handsome in it, but that wasn’t really a surprise, was it? Hannibal was tempted to pull him forward by his tie into a kiss, take it off and use it to bind his hands, or perhaps blindfold him—ah, he was getting ahead of himself again, and he distracted himself by taking a slow, contemplative sip of his whiskey. No, he definitely enjoyed wine much more, but Will seemed to relax more when he saw Hannibal take a drink, as if that made him trust him more. Hannibal wouldn’t be surprised, quite honestly.

“I should get going, my—” Will stopped, frowning at himself as he cut himself off much like he’d done the other day. “I have some things to do before I can sleep. It’s another early day tomorrow.”

“By all means, don’t let me keep you. But perhaps another day, when you have some more time, I can,” Hannibal said graciously, and Will glanced at him before finishing off his glass with truly impressive speed, setting it, empty, down on the counter.

“Maybe,” was his response, and he headed towards the door with a final, “Goodbye, Dr. Lecter.”

Hannibal frowned slightly at that, a micro expression as the door shut. He had hoped that Will would use his informal name now, considering that he’d already done it once before, but it seemed that that was not the case and he had to say that he was disappointed, finding it to be one more bridge between them. He also still didn’t have a satisfactory answer for the Will he’d seen the other day, and was beginning to believe that he wouldn’t get one. Which was rather unfortunate.

But maybe another day, he would see that personality again. And, in fact, he did, just a few days later. He was getting his mail, debating whether or not to sneak a few letters into Will’s mailbox again, just to see if he’d carry out his promise, when he saw Will coming down the stairs, dressed in casual clothes and a leather jacket that he’d never seen before.

“Good afternoon, Will,” he said, giving him a small smile, and Will returned it with one of his own. Curious. “I see you’re in a good mood today as well.”

“Oh, right, I should be grumpier,” Will said, putting on a frown that Hannibal had seen before before popping back into a smile. “That seems like a waste of time. But I suppose it’d be more convincing.” He considered it for a moment, then shrugged. “Not my style. But hey, nice to see you, Hannibal. Thanks for the whiskey the other night.”

“I’m glad you appreciated it,” Hannibal said, watching Will carefully. There was definitely something wrong here, but he didn’t know quite what, and it was hard to place but there was definitely something off with Will. This wasn’t right.

Especially not when Will patted Hannibal’s shoulder, smiling at him before turning to leave, and that was when Hannibal caught a whiff of his scent, and realized it. That scent was all wrong. His aftershave was different, not that atrocious thing he’d worn the other day but rather something lighter, cleaner, subtler. Not like Will at all. And the underlying scent was different too, less…sweet. A touch spicier, more…exotic? Not quite, but that was the only way that he could put it right now. This wasn’t Will. This couldn’t be Will.

He let the not-Will go, watching him as he left, and then returned upstairs, carrying his mail with him. Not Will. But looked just like him. So. Will had a twin, then. An identical twin, and he hadn’t told Hannibal, preferring to play a little game where they both pretended to be the same person. He wasn’t even sure that Will was Will, he could have easily met the other twin and the real Will was the one that smiled and called him by his first name. And didn’t wear glasses, oh, he should have noticed that. But he’d been a bit preoccupied with his growing attraction, not realizing that they were, in fact, two separate people, and he was being duped. Not that he was angry about it. No, he actually admired Will for the short charade, for going along with it so easily. For tricking him for so long, considering he should have figured it out after meeting the not-Will for the first time.

A knock on the door, and Hannibal waited patiently, looking around the hall as he waited for an answer. After all, he wanted Will to understand that he knew what was going on, that he wasn’t going to be fooled by this any longer. It was rude, after all, to trick him like that and not give him a proper introduction to his twin.

It took Will a minute to answer, and when he did, it looked like he’d been sleeping, despite the early hour, though he did have quite the early start, it seemed. “Yes?” he asked, irritation not as strong as it could have been considering he still looked sleepy, hair a mess as he rubbed at his eyes. Cute.

“I believe you neglected to inform me that you have a twin,” Hannibal said, and Will’s hand froze where it’d been rubbing at his eyes, concealing one of them currently. The other one moved up to take in Hannibal’s features, no doubt see if there was any anger there. Instead, there was just amusement, and Will’s shoulders relaxed a tiny bit, clearly having anticipated a worse reaction.  
“Don’t tell the landlord,” he said, voice firm, in the same tone that Hannibal was sure he used when giving orders. Delightful. “My brother’s staying with me for a little while while he sorts things out with his wife, but the landlord doesn’t know.”

“Your brother seems to have quite the sunny disposition despite his situation,” Hannibal commented, and Will snorted.

“Connor’s always been like that. Eternal optimism.”

Hannibal’s smile widened, remembering Connor’s comment earlier. “Perhaps that’s why he told me earlier that he should be grumpier. That it’d make it more convincing. I suppose I see what he means now.”

“Yes, he’s not exactly subtle,” Will said, leaning against the doorway and dropping his hand away from his eye, using it instead to rub at his arm absentmindedly. “So. Can I rely on you not to tell the landlord?”

“Of course. As long as I can have you over for dinner,” Hannibal amended, and Will seemed to consider it for a moment.

“Alright,” he answered, and gave Hannibal a small smile, the first that he actually had, considering Connor’s didn’t count. “Dinner.”

Over time, Hannibal got to know the other differences between the twins. The slight variation in their eye color, Connor’s grayer than Will’s, the difference in their speech patterns and accents—Connor was, apparently, raised for a long time in Britain, separate from Will, and so naturally had a British accent that he hid from people when he was staying with Will—and eventually, the difference in their bodies. Well. To be fair, he only ever saw Will’s, but eventually it was to the point that he could draw Will’s body from memory, every inch of it, every treasured birthmark and revered scar.

At first, Connor seemed to object to the relationship, unsure that Hannibal was good enough for his brother, but as time went on and it became clear that Hannibal wasn’t going anywhere, he relented, joining them a few times for dinner and such. It was a nice relationship to have, a nice balance between the brothers, though often they’d have conversations without speaking and while after time, Hannibal could recognize some of their signals, he still couldn’t decipher it all and he was sure that sometimes he was the topic of conversation. He was usually fine with that, even if it was a conversation that made Will laugh because he did love to hear him laugh, but he’d prefer to know what they were saying. If Connor approved.

Because he knew how close the brothers were, and also knew that if there was any future to be had with Will, he’d need Connor’s approval first. And he was so desperate to have a future with Will. He’d wanted one nearly since he first laid eyes on Will, and that feeling had only grown with intensity as time went on and he got closer. Close enough to touch, and then close enough to be completely inside of Will’s world, of his life. But still, he wanted more. He wanted everything he could have with Will, wanted to own every aspect of him. He would take over his life, if he could, prevent him from being seen by anyone undesirable, such as Matthew Brown from down the hall. But for now he’d settle for the simplest thing. Marriage.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone is wondering, Connor is named Connor because it literally means "dog lover".
> 
> Also, in case anyone is even more curious, Connor is married to Alana.


End file.
